Fitzpatrick, a Republican who has represented Smithtown in the state Assembly for the past 10 years, has worked tirelessly and almost exclusively on reforming the state’s pension system.

And while he was “very pleased” to hear the governor make pension reform one of the Legislature’s top priorities for the year, he said Cuomo’s plan doesn’t go far enough.

Not only would Fitzpatrick like the state to add a new pension tier, Tier VI, for new employees, but also to switch state pensions from a defined benefit program to defined contribution plan, i.e., have state employees pay into a 401(k) program just like private-sector workers.

“We’re not hiring a lot of new employees right now,” Fitzpatrick said this week. “Those are future savings. It does nothing currently. What about now?”

For now, he said he will reintroduce Assembly Bill 5141, which states that all elected officials and political appointees – non-civil service workers – be switched from the current defined benefit pension plan to a 401(k)-type program.

While the switch may sound like purely a paperwork shuffle, Fitzpatrick said it has real consequences. The defined benefit pension program has created the career politician – someone who will not vote for anything controversial or against party lines for fear of losing his seat and his pension. With a defined contribution program, the taxpayers are off the hook for paying politicians’ pensions, a move that, according to Fitzpatrick’s estimates, would save the state $50 million immediately.

“We’re changing the culture of government,” Fitzpatrick said. “We’re changing behavior. That’s what this is doing.”

While Fitzpatrick has been introducing the bill to the Assembly since 2009 to no avail, with Cuomo behind pension reform, the time may finally be here for Fitzpatrick’s voice on the topic to be heard.